Japanese Baseball Teams: The 12 Most Important in NPB and Beyond

Baseball is a passion in Japan. The sport is watched and played by millions of fans across the archipelago, and its reach extends well beyond the biggest cities. In this article, we'll get to know the main baseball teams in Japan.

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Koshien and the industrial leagues

One of the most significant events in Japanese sport, with enormous popular appeal, is the Koshien (甲子園). The word is the name of the main stadium where the tournament is held, but it is also used to refer to the national high school baseball championship itself. Teams of young talents from all over the country compete in this tournament. Koshien is frequently mentioned in Japanese pop culture, especially in anime, manga, and films. The audience for the event is huge, and the competition is highly valued.

In addition to the various high school baseball teams, there are also teams from the industrial leagues, representing famous companies such as Yamaha and many others.

The professional teams of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB)

The professional baseball league in Japan is the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB), also known as Puro Yakyū (プロ野球). It has existed since 1950, although a professional tournament had been played since 1936 under a different name. Currently, the NPB is organized as follows:

• The teams are divided into two main leagues: The Pacific League and the Central League, each with 6 teams.
• The Pacific League consists of Saitama Seibu Lions, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Orix Buffaloes, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
• The Central League is made up of Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Chunichi Dragons, Hanshin Tigers, Yomiuri Giants, and Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
• Each team plays 144 games during the regular season.
• Interestingly, unlike what happens in MLB (Major League Baseball), a tie can indeed occur in an NPB game. A tie is declared if the score is still tied after 12 innings.
• It is estimated that nearly 30 million Japanese (about 27 million) watch the NPB, and almost 50% (48%) name baseball as their favorite sport.
• The country has the best player in the world today: Shohei Ohtani.
• The most popular teams are: Yomiuri Giants, Hanshin Tigers, and Hiroshima Carp.
• Many Brazilians have played in Japanese baseball, such as Henrique Shigeo Tamaki, Daniel Matsumoto, Reinaldo Sato, Thyago Vieira, Felipe Natel, and Vitor Ito, among others.

Read also: Shohei Ohtani — The genius of world baseball

Below, you can learn more about each of the teams:

Yomiuri Giants

Central League team that plays at the Tokyo Dome (東京ドーム Tōkyō Dōmu) and is widely considered the greatest team in the history of Japanese baseball. It has 22 Nippon Series titles, the most of any team in the NPB. It has a huge fan base and many idols, including the legendary Sadaharu Oh, the "king of home runs".

Hanshin Tigers

Another very traditional and popular baseball team. It has 2 Nippon Series titles, with the last one won in 2023. The first time the team won the tournament was in 1985. It usually holds its matches at Koshien Stadium, in Nishinomiya (Hyogo).

Hiroshima Carp

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp also has a large number of fans in Japan. The Brazilian pitcher Shigeo Henrique Tamaki played for over a decade with the Carp. They are part of the Central League and have 3 Japan Series titles, one more than the Hanshin Tigers. They hold their matches at Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima, the municipal stadium of Hiroshima.

Yakult Swallows

The Swallows have had several Brazilians on their roster, including Daniel Matsumoto and Reinaldo Sato. They have 5 Japan Series titles, and their home is Meiji Jingu Stadium (明治神宮野球場 Meiji Jingu Yakyūjō), in Tokyo. The team's mascot is a swallow.

Chunichi Dragons

Based in Nagoya, the Dragons are an old franchise, founded in 1936. The team is known for its two mascots: a small blue dragon (Chunichi Dragons Shaolon) and a koala (Chunichi Dragons Doala). They have accumulated 2 Japan Series titles in their history, and their home is Vantelin Dome Nagoya (バンテリンドーム ナゴヤ, Banterin Dōmu Nagoya). They are also part of the Central League.

Yokohama BayStars

Since 2012, the BayStars have been managed by DeNA, a company that operates in the mobile and online services sector. In their trophy room, they have 2 Japan Series titles (1960 and 1998), although they have not won another in over 25 years.

Based in Kanagawa, the team plays at Yokohama Stadium and has a hamster with a star painted on its face as its mascot. The main colors are white and blue.

Seibu Lions

The team where the Brazilian Bo Takahashi currently plays. It is the second-most decorated team in NPB history, with 13 Japan Series titles, and is one of the clubs that compete in the Pacific League. Its main stadium is Seibu Dome (西武ドーム), located in Saitama.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Champion of the Japan Series on only one occasion, in 2013. Brazilians have also been part of the team, such as Fernando Luciano and Shigeo Tamaki (Henrique Tamaki). The team's headquarters is in Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, where they hold their matches (Miyagi Baseball Stadium).

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

Representing the northernmost main island of the archipelago, the Fighters have 3 Japan Series titles in their history and play their home games at Sapporo Dome, which was inaugurated in 2001. The stadium is quite peculiar: it has two fields (one for soccer and another for baseball), movable grass, and a design that resembles a frog with its tongue out (the tongue being the soccer pitch, left uncovered).

Orix Buffaloes

Formed from the merger of the Orix BlueWave with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. Ichiro Suzuki, one of the greatest legends of Japanese baseball, played for the team for nine seasons. The club, which has a buffalo as its mascot (the "buffalo bell"), has won the Japan Series five times, the most recent in 2022. They play at Kyocera Dome Osaka Stadium (Osaka Dome), a futuristic venue with a capacity of over 50,000 (51,000).

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Representing the Pacific League, the team was bought by the SoftBank group in January 2005, when it became known as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Previously, the team had been called Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1988–2005) and, before that, the Nankai Electric Railway Company (1938–1988). It has 11 Japan Series titles and plays at Fukuoka Dome.

Chiba Lotte Marines

The last of the Pacific League clubs, the Marines have 4 Japan Series titles and are based in the Chiba region, where they play at ZOZO Marine Stadium (Chiba Marines Stadium). The mascot is a duck named Mar-kun (マーくん). There is also Zuu-chan (ズゥちゃん) and Riin-chan (リーンちゃん), the female version of the mascot.

Useful pages about Japanese baseball

To follow Japanese baseball in English and Portuguese, these two Instagram accounts are worth a look: @beiseboljapones and @reidasrebatidas.

Of the 12 NPB clubs, which one is your favorite — and have you ever been to a game in Japan, maybe at the Tokyo Dome or Koshien Stadium? Drop a comment; the atmosphere in those stands is hard to match against a TV broadcast.